With a peaceful walk through the pedestrian zone, the citizens of Prijedor yesterday marked the International White Armband Day, in memory of May 31st, 1992, when the non-Serb population of this city was ordered to mark their homes with white sheets and themselves with white armbands – which was the introduction to mass crimes against Bosniaks and Croats. This year’s commemoration was held with dignity and without incidents, and the participants laid 102 roses in memory of 102 murdered Prijedor children of Bosniak nationality, forming a circle at the place where a monument should be built.
Fikret Bacic, representative of the parents of the murdered children, stated that this year’s commemoration was attended by numerous citizens and that many cafes turned off their music during the walk, while guests in the gardens stood up as a sign of respect.
“Ordinary citizens showed compassion with us who mark this day and want coexistence, peace, and progress for this city. However, politicians, both in the entities and in local communities, clearly do not want that,” said Bacic.
Although parents have been requesting permission to build a monument to the murdered children for years, the city authorities of Prijedor, according to him, still refuse to discuss this topic.
“Mayor Slobodan Javor does not want to talk, even though I have sent him more than 236 letters, including the one last year when I requested three concrete decisions – permission to build the monument, selection of a location on Ahmeta Babica Street, and formation of a working body that would manage this process. I never received a response,” Bacic pointed out.
He emphasized that the initiative, besides local associations, has also been supported by numerous international organizations, ambassadors, and European parliamentarians, but that even that was not enough to get a chance to meet with the mayor.
“The saddest thing is that we don’t even know what he thinks about it. He did not take part in the war, at the time he was a child, but behaves as if he did. Unlike him, former mayor Dalibor Pavlovic, who was an officer of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), was willing to have a dialogue, and back then we had hope that the monument would be built,” added Bacic.
White Armband Day in Prijedor remains a symbol of the struggle for the recognition of crimes and dignified remembrance of innocent civilian victims, especially children, whose names and sacrifices deserve a permanent monument in the heart of the city, emphasize associations from Prijedor whose members are families of those who were killed in Prijedor at the beginning of the war in 1992.
